DARK MONEY - BBC 1 mon 9pm

[Blondeshavemorefun]

A family accept a pay off to keep silent about the abuse their son suffered by a film producer

They will be rich beyond their dreams

But at what cost

Money can’t buy happiness

It's a good idea but a tad unrealistic ie the journo keeping quiet & going to the meeting without a lawyer! When the (stupid) father was googling the abuser he found info on a footballer with the same very unusual first name who was an abuser. What was the relevance of this??

The mum doesn't seem as close to her daughter as she is to Issac.
Tyrone's mum seems ok , but I agree they may have an affair. It seems to be heading that way.

That house is amazing ; I always get home envy with these dramas.

It was clever how they have shown Jess's jealousy of her brother and how what has happened to him had affected him with inappropriate behaviour towards others and so on. Sometimes abused kids can become abusers themselves , plus he hasn't had any counselling or anything to help with the emotional side of what went on, just now living in luxury.

Hollywood, Pay-off scandals, family dynamics, new money, impact on relationships, impact on the victim, the media.... A lot of issues tackled in this drama....

Watching with interest as it unfolds...

I definitely think the second episode was better than the first.
The thing that has shone through for me is the acting of the boy playing Isaac. He is phenomenal and I can feel my heart breaking for him at times. It probably doesn’t help that I have a son around the same age either.
This has the promise to be a great drama and I hope it is!

I’m sorry but I think this drama is totally unbelievable, badly written and in some instances badly acted. There’s no sense of the parents as a couple; no sense of how the blended family mucks along together; no sense of the family with their friends and wider social group, school friends etc. Utterly unbelievable - totally wrong in a sense of how you would react if your child showed you a film of them being abused.

I am actually aghast at that being passed as a piece of serious drama. The Dad’s acting was not good. The plot holes were gaping. The whole crux of the ‘indecent proposal’ element was glossed over - so they chose not to go all guns blazing to expose the paedo, they chose to take the 3 million, they chose to allow other kids to be exploited, they chose to tell their son that money matters more than letting powerful men exploit him - JFC Nothing was credible about it. It was like they allowed the writers of Doctors to scale up to prime time drama. And they shoe-horned in some real big issues but in a very crack-handed way - am speechless.

Suddenly Jill Halfpenny took against the step son. Then she was slapping him. Then the abused child was calling girls bitches and being accused of groping (no therapy offered to him? 3 million couldnt buy that? Keep him in his shitty state school?) I’ll be watching the third episode because I’m drawn to it like a car crash but bloody hell! It’s not Killing Eve is it?

When is episode 3?

3&4 are Monday and Tuesday

Isaac is a great actor. Breaks my heart to see him crying silently

Yes a few plot holes

Did dad have an affair with Sabina as Tyrone is younger then Jess

Is jess sams daughter ? She said to mannys mum I’ve been with your son 20yrs do assume she is

Why didn’t one of them go to USA

Why is the chaperone and the men in office when signing the disclosure - they said jotham wouldn’t go newrvhim

But he stood by him and squeezed his shoulder

To me that makes him guilty and if he is saying I have the power. I abused you and nothing you can do so will touch you in public

I really hope that justice is done for Isaac

It would have passed me by had I not seen it referred to on here so thanks for the heads up. I think it's been well done and the acting from the young central character and the dad very realistic. I do think that the leap from the 3 million to where they are now needs some further explanation. Maybe that's covered in Parts 3 & 4. Kudos to all involved for commissioning and doing something that's not historical or maverick detective led, though.

Yes the 3million was a pay off and tbh a big one so company knew he done wrong and paid for their silence

Shame they didn’t take a lawyer with them but of course they couldn’t afford one :(

I hope jotham gets found out and they repay money and live happy again in small house

Anyone else watch tonight ?

It seeems to me that Isaac is trying to do sexual things to other girls - the skirt touching. Trying to get holly to take too kff

Is it coz he feels it’s ok to ask /make other do stuff as he was made to do stuff

Silly silly silly big sister. :(

Yes, I watched it, but I think I'm going to have to watch it again as I was mumsnetting and not really concentrating.

Watched it last night.
I don’t understand why the dad is being painted as the bad guy.
He is being a parent and protecting his son from what happened before - and all the others can see are that he is ruining his career??
And the mum - she took the money too, it wasn’t just him. And she’s getting angry at the chaperone lady - where was she? Why didn’t she go to America with him then? She’s not blameless at all.
And the sister OMG - what a foolish thing to do.

The family have all behaved badly. They seem v disjointed with neither parent being close to Jess.

Also it's weird I think Isaac bought their new house. The 3 million Wouldn't cover their whole new lifestyle. Wouldn't most parents put his money in an account and perhaps only borrow some to get out of debt, if necessary?

I do think Isaac is a great actor though and it's an interesting story.

I know I am repeating myself from earlier posts but I am so angry at this exploitation of the issue of child sexual abuse to make a drama. We have had some recognition that sexual violence against women shouldn't be treated as a plot devise with out support.

So now with the 3rd episode NOT ONE ADULT has talked about professional support, help groups, online forums.

Are we supposed to believe in this day and age that every adult is so caught up in their own personal revenge dramas that they totally ignore offering help and support to the victim of abuse.

And also it is so cliched and wrong to suggest that childer who are sexually abused go on to abuse themselves.

Its not good enough for the BBC to offer links to helplines at the end of the show.

They should consider the impact on anyone young, or later in life, seeing a depiction of "real life" where all adults are so callous and uniformed.

I really thought his sister would be the one to do the right thing but she is shown as just as self absorbed in her own drama as everyone else.

The husband is a complete dick head. He lies and attempts to manipulate, and thinks he has the right to dictate to his son.

Maybe someone could do a tv show about why so many supposedly intelligent and competent women get involved with men who disrespect them. Just another domestic tyrant.

I agree about lack of support for Isaac - it's unrealistic the parents would do nothing. Poor boy. The family were so selfish.

thats the danger of putting a programme on like this that isnt based on a true story. Its a writer sitting there writing a soap opera type script to try and keep people watching.

It isn't very realistic , but I'll watch tonight to see how it ends.
I'm hoping others come forwards and the abuser is put away. The film company will want their money back no doubt.

I think others did come forward as when Issac googled jotham it said 10yrs of abuse - so hopefully other child actors in jotham career came forward and that’s why the bloke who did the deal with the sides was so keen to talk to dad

As needed a recent abuse :(

House and pool is nice but area depending May only be a million

Sister and ex partner don’t live in a posh area

I’m hoping now in open that jotham will get his comeuppance and been jailed and made to pay for his abuse

And that Isaac carries on acting

I think it was implied that parents didn’t go to USA as couldn’t get done off job /afford it hence the chaperone

Tho she obv didn’t do a very good job.

Isaac should have been in a suite with her in one bedroom and him in another so no one could have got to him

Makes you wonder if the production team knew of jotham abuse previously hence so happy and quick to cough up to hide under the carpet

The premise of this looked interesting but it's disappointing in execution. I wouldn't call this serious drama at all.

Here we go

I can't say I'm emotionally involved with any of the characters

I don't get why they didn't go straight to the Police who'd then do the necessary digging. The lawyer approach, then meeting the Directors own lawyer without a lawyer just suggests a purely financial motive. It reminds me of Leaving Neverland where the mother said when the first trial was pending, he suddenly said you don't need to repay me the money I loaned you for a house.

Yes it seemed quite an odd programme almost

It was ok , but cobbled together at times and the parents seemed a bit dim. However, who knows how anyone would react to this situation and they were warned off straight away then panicked , then they thought they were doing the right thing I suppose.

It ended very abruptly with no satisfactory outcome for me. I wonder if they are hoping to get another series out of it by setting it in the courtroom.